Container



`J. R.- WATKINS May 23, 1939.

CONTAINER Filed March 9, 1956 .2 Janeway/@m6, @yz/w ,MQMQWWMW PatentedMay 23, 1939 UNITED STATES CONTAINER, Jaures n. Watkins, Nues center,nl.

Application March 9,

s claims.

This invention pertains generally to containers and` particularly` toimprovements in collapsible containers and methods of making the same.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide 6 in a containerhaving a collapsible tubular portion a new method of manufacturing thatportion of the container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and economicalmethod of` applying cleats 10 to a fiat sheet of scored brous materialand thereafter fashionng the cleated sheet into a tubular structurehaving `walls that are hinged together at the score lines.

Another object of the invention is to `provide a new method ofmanufacturing a tubular portion of a" container to provide interior wallsur-- faces which are entirely free from seams or other projections..

Further objects and advantages of the inven- .20 tion will becomeapparent from a perusal of the 25 .Flg. 1 is a perspective view of acleated container having a hinge corner made in accordancewith thisinvention; Fig. 2 is a horizontal cross-section of the same y containeron line 2 2 of Fig. 1; y y 30 Fig. 3y is a sectional viewA showing thevertical walls of the container of Fig. 1 aligned in collapsedrelationship in `the position they occupy when the stitching is beingapplied and at the nclusion ofthe stitching; A.

g.,l4 jis afsectional view similar to Fig. 3 but dying the, modifiedhinge corner of Fig. 5, lustrating how this type of scored cornerollapsing as shown;vv j

" partial sectional view of a modified w hinsefco ner;`and

`fFig.-'is a horizontal section of another modi` ed formof thetubularportion of a container embodying this invention.

cltcratesthat is, one which may be collapsed after manufacture andbefore use and'opened up to i vreceivethe merchandise or other articleswhich o itfisintended to contain. Inthe form` shown in Figs. 1;-2 and"3,it consists of four walls, I, 2;"3, I," whichrffor convenience maybereferred to as'the side-'walls ofthe container.y "Thesewalls may belmade of,any` thinbut inherently stiff material, MII' `such as corrugatedpaperboardor` solid fiber j Referring further to the drawing, theinvention illustrated appliedto 'acollapsible container board or anyother material whose characteristics suit it for use in this invention.Where paper board, either corrugated or plain, is employed, it ispreferred that cleats, usually of wood, or other material, be alxed tothe outer surfaces of the side walls, as by nailing, gluing, stitching,or `other means to reinforce the inherent stiffness of the v wallmaterial and cause the wall material and cleats to cooperate with eachother to produce a structure of remarkable strength and rigidity,considering the weight and the cost of the materials employed. While theillustrated embodiment discloses three vertical cleats on each sidewall, the number of cleats may be varied; and in some instances thecleats may be entirely dispensed with on one or more-of the side walls.

The 4cleats as shown are preferably wooden cleats 5, some ofv whichextend above the top edge o f the side wall and some extend below thebot-` tom edge of the sidewall as illustrated, s o that they may readilybe united, by simply nailing to cleats which adjoin them on the top andbottom closure members. The particular arrangement of thecleats issubject to variation, the arrangement shown being selected merely toillustrate one but not the only satisfactory mode of assembly. The topclosure member consists of a sheet of material 6 on which is secured inany suitable manner, as by nailing, gluing, or the like, a plurality ofvcleats 'i positioned as shown so that when the top closure member isplaced in position with its sheet 6 snugly closing the upper end of thecontainer, its cleats will lie in position where they may be nailed tothe abutting side wall cleats.

The number of cleats employed on the top closuremember may, of course,be varied.

'A bottom closure member similar to the top closure member is providedand positioned in place and secured. similarly to the manner ofAsecuring the top closure member.

Various advantages of this collapsible tubular type. of f container are'set forth in my prior Pat-A ent No. 1,955,107, issued April 17, 1934.My present invention is an improvement upon that dis closed in my priorpatent. i

The particular improvement in the construc-` tion` of the hinge cornerwhich closes the tubular structure will now be described. In making theassembly of side walls and cleats, it is preferred `to ,use a singlesheet of fiber board and score it` or otherwise render it foldable onthe parallel lines`8',9, Il, and I2, and if desired also at 13 (see Fig.5), then lay the sheet flatly with the foursecnons `which formv the sidewaus anais-rs posed in the same plane. 'I'he side-wall cleats 5 may thenbe laid either underneath the sheet or on top of it as desired,depending on whether it is desired to drive the nails or staples throughrthe sheet into the wood or through the wood into the sheet. Preferablythe cleats will lie under the sheet and the nails or staples will bedriven through the sheet into the wood, see for example the nails Il inFig. 2. If the ends of the nails or staples protrude, they, oi' course,will be clinched yover at the same time; and where the side wall cleatsare all parallel to each other,

as in the present embodiment, the assembly of cleats and single sheet ofboard may be held in a frame provided for the purpose and passed under amultiple head nailing machine or multiple head stitching machine .sothat in one passage through the machine all of the cleats will besecured to the four side walls.

Thereafter the walls oi the assembly will be collapsed by foldinginwardly at the score line 9, whereby the Wall 2 will oppose the wall 3andthe wall I will oppose the wall 4. This will leave protruding beyondthe margins of the cleats adjoining the ends of the sheet of fiber boardtwo free edges of fiber board I5 and' I6, which will overlap andpreferably register. The fact that it is extremely easy to so score thefiber board and arrange the cleats thereon that an accurate and neatadjustment of these free edges is possible renders their registrationeasy of accomplishment. In this position, it is a simple matter to passthese two free edges through a stitching machine and stitch themtogether. The side walls of the container are thus stitched together ina collapsed position and thereafter may 'be opened up to form thetubular structure. The top and bottom closure members, of course, mayreadily be formed by stitching, nailing, or otherwise securing theircleats to them, and the entire container may be assembled'whenever readyfor use. If only a single score I2 is used on one of the projecting endsoi' fiber board, as shown in Fig.` 2, when the four side walls areopened up from the collapsed relationship the portion I8 will extend inthe same plane as the side wall l. When thus constructed the containercan be collapsed readily only by swinging walls I and 2 toward walls Iand 3, respectively, about the score lines 9 and I2.

If, however, both projections' I5 and I6 are scored as shown in Fig. 5,the structure may be collapsed to bring either walls 4 and I intosuper-L posed relation or to dispose them in alignment as shown in Fig.4.

While it is stated and Vpreferred that the projecting ends I5 and I5 beunited by stitching, other suitable methods including gluing may beemployed.-

Ordinarily the width of the projecting portions (I5 or I6 will bepredetermined so that they may not protrude beyond the thickness of theadjoining cleats or at least not much beyond said cleats so that thestitched hinge corner may always present a neat appearance.

Whenever the width of the side walls, between the parallel hinged edges,is too great to permit the four walls to be extended in a single planeand passed in one movement through the stitching or nailing .machine forthe purpose of attaching the cleats, I may use two sheets of fiber boardto facilitate the manufacture of the container. In such a case, eachsheet would be scored at the juncture oi' two side walls, and alsoscored parallel tor and *slightly spaced'zfrom its opposite'ends, thecleats applied to each pair of joined side walls and thereafter the twopairs 'oi'sidewalls united by stitching the projecting Vthat largecontainers may be conveniently assex'nbledy in' this manner. Also, thetwo opposite corners so to be stitched may be stitched simulstitchingheads.

Should the size of the container, or other considerations, make itdesirable to do so, not merely two corners of the container may be sounited, but three of them or all o; them may be so joined, and in thisevent the corner shown in Fig. 5 would be preferred. v

Also the method of uniting fiber board corners y'in accordance with thisinvention may be utilized in connection with containers having sidewalls formed of strips or of imperforate sheets of ply-- wood or othermaterial not adapted to be scored or creased and folded back uponitself. Containers of this type are illustrated in my prior UnitedStates Letters Patent No. 1,976,693, issued October 9, 1934. Whenutilizing the present invention in conjunction with the invention of myPatent No. 1,976,693 the ber board constituting the hinge material,instead of being a single strip at the corner could be two strips suchas I1 and I8, each secured to a wall of plywood I9 and 2|, respectively,and projecting outwardly and stitched together. A similar joint could betaneously by employing properly spaced apart A formed by similarlyuniting hinge strips 22 and ,y

23, which are securedto plywood walls 24 and 25.

Referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that in locating the scoring of theliber board, the score line 9 equally divides the sheet, and while scoreline I2 is near one margin o! the sheet it is, like the other lines,actually the hinge axis of two adjoining walls. i

Attention is now called to my prior Patent No. 1,955,107 which shows amethod o1' uniting the four walls to form a tubular container,theoverlapping portion of one of the walls being secured to the innersurface of the container wall. The improvement just described in thisinvention facilitates greatly the ease of uniting the four illustrationas not being countersunk, as a matter of practice they are preferablycountersunk into the wall material so that there will be no projectionson the inner wall surfaces. I'he improved method vof hinging -thevarious walls together, of course, leaves them free of projections, 1

a feature of real importance due to thefact that in using thesecontainers it is customary to place the article on the bottom closuremember Land secure it thereon if desired, and then drop* tubular portionof the container down over the article.

closure member in its proper position and then secure by nails, screwsor the like, the rigid portions of the end closure members, that is, thecleats thereof, to the cleats of the side walls,

completingthereby a remarkably rigid container considerable variationand modification without a departure from the spirit and scope of theclaims which follow.

Having shown and described my invention, I claim:

Y l 1.a couapsme tubular structure comprising a sheet of brous materialscored to provide a plurality of side walls hinged together at the scorelines, said sheet forming one pair of adjoining side walls and havingmarginal portions Awhich project beyond the corner which they denne,with one of said marginal portions being connected to its contiguouswall by a score line reversely scored relatively' to the other lines,and

`means securing said marginal portions together f outside of said scoreline.

2. A collapsible tubular structure comprising a sheet rof ilbrousmaterial scored to provide a plurality of side walls hinged together atthe score lines, the opposite ends of the sheet parallel to said scorelines being secured together outside oi' the corner of the containerwhich they adjoin, one of said score lines being located parallel to andnear one edge of the sheet at said corner to permit the marginal portionof the sheet beyond said score line to be folded at extension.

3. A collapsible tubular shipping co'ntainer structure comprising a bodyformed of sheet fibrous material to provide four side walls for thestructure, two of said side walls at one corner of the structure beingextended beyond the corner which they define to provide opposed marginalextensions outside the connes of the structure and -one of said marginalextensions beingscored on its outer face at the juncture with the wallfrom which it extends to afford a hinged connection with said wallpermitting said extension to assume a position perpendicular to the.plane of said. wall, and means securing said 4marginal portionstogether outside of thecon'tainer, the walls at the remaining corners ofthe structure being hingedly connected to enablethe structure to becollapsed into flat position. y

JAMES R. WATKINS.

